A Different Kind of War
by Nigelcat1
Summary: Harry is illegally chosen to participate in the Tournament, gets fed up with his treatment and tries to gain his freedom from Dumbledore, etc. Despite him being in the right, Dumbles is too powerful and "wins" but Harry now declares war on him and the Magical World.


A DIFFERENT KIND OF WAR

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writing.

Chapter 1 – Shunning

He hated them all. Well maybe not Neville as Neville had been the only one to treat him half decently. Then there was the third year Ravenclaw named Luna, who everybody called Looney and what from he had heard from Neville, was bullied and treated abominably by her own house. That was something Harry Potter knew all too well, even more so since his named had come out of the goblet forcing him to participate in a tournament he never desired to enter.

Of course nobody had believed him, instead they immediately called him a liar, a cheater, a rule breaker, a glory seeker, a fame hog, arrogant just like his father (well only Snape said that one) "a leetle boy" as the snooty French Veela called him. No matter how many times he told everybody he didn't put his name in the goblet or didn't have anybody put it in for him, he was called a liar.

Dumbledore said he had to compete. There was no way he could get out of the Tournament. Harry had found out later there were ways to prove his innocence such as swearing an oath on his life and magic that he didn't put his name in. Dumbledore as Headmaster was apparently his magical guardian as he was an orphan who was Muggle-raised and had "no known magical relatives" and since Harry was underage and did not have Dumbledore's permission.

Well the last part wasn't totally true as Harry did have some magical relatives, such as his godfather, who was a second or so cousin of his father James. Although Sirius was a fugitive he could still write a note forbidding his participation. Andromeda Tonks was a cousin of Sirius and who was a close enough a relation to act on Harry's behalf or as a proxy for Sirius as well. There were also a few other persons who met the requirements but Dumbledore considered them "not desirable" as they didn't agree with Dumbledore's politics.

Harry had found out too late, that Dumbledore KNEW there were ways to prevent him from competing, but apparently Dumbledore considered it another way "to test Harry" so he quashed all chances of Harry getting free from a contract he never entered.

At least if Harry had known about magical oaths, he could have immediately taken one in front of the entire assembly, but magical oaths were just another things about the magical world he did not know or been told about.

But Ron Weasley knew. Yet his self-proclaimed "best mate" instead called him a liar, yelled at him because he wouldn't tell him how he got past the age wards set up by Dumbledore let alone share the information so that he too could enter the tournament. Instead he accused him of not only lying but entering his name and not telling Ron so that "the Git Who Lived could get even more, fame, glory and money." Had Ron asked him to swear an oath on his life and magic (after telling him it existed first) Harry would have done it in a heartbeat. But no Ron ranted and raved and called him a fame seeking liar and then went on a campaign to turn the entire Gryffindor House against him.

The Weasley Twins said and did nothing, which was entirely out of character for them. Harry did notice them whispering and casting glances at him as if they were sizing him up for something. He would find out later they were setting up a betting pool, making odds of his surviving, the points he would or would not gain. But that night and until the end of the first task when he had actually managed not only to survive but to come in third they never talked to him.

Hermione had been the worst betrayal. She didn't speak to him at all that night as apparently she decided to "sleep on it" before _making her decision_. By the next morning she had made her choice and all but jumped on him when he came down to the common room after a sleepless night.

"Harry James Potter," she shouted loudly, "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD CHEAT LIKE THAT. I KNOW YOU ARE RECKLESS, NEVER THINK BEFORE YOU ACT, BUT AT LEAST I THOUGHT YOU WERE HONEST. IF THERE IS ONE THING I CAN'T ABIDE IS A DIRTY CHEATER."

"Hermione, I DIDN'T PUT MY NAME IN THE GOBLET. YOU SHOULD KNOW I DIDN'T SO HOW CAN….."

"DON'T YOU DARE SHOUT AT ME," commanded the girl who had done nothing but shout at him. She then continued yelling at him, calling him names and insulting his intelligence. She was making so much noise people started running down stairs to see what the commotion was. Just as Harry turned to leave the crazy bitch to her ranting, he saw Ron, still in his pajamas, standing on the stairs with a huge grin on his face.

He left the common room before he would do something he would regret. Well actually he couldn't do anything because they all hated him, called him a liar, a cheat and who knows what else. No one would believe anything he said and if he punched out Ron, he would probably be beat up by several of his housemates, or at the very least, held down by some while Ron pummeled him senseless because he was "a lying, cheating, glory seeking bastard who wouldn't share with his best mate."

Things just got worse as the days went on. There was that dreadful interview with Rita Skeeter. Actually she had just grabbed him, dragged him off into a room, asked him stupid questions she didn't let him answer and then wrote an outrageous article which didn't contain a word of truth. Naturally everybody believed what she had written.

The rest of the school was absolutely horrid to him. The teachers were not much better and no help at all. Professor Sprout, who he had always gotten along with, started criticizing his work and gave him dirty looks. McGonagall simply didn't speak to him nor did she attempt to stop the harassment directed to him even though she constantly witnessed it, but then that was what she always did. Why should his Head of House help him let alone protect him from abuse?

Snape was worse than usual as were the Slytherins. It was hard to believe that even they could be this bad. Malfoy had paid for the making and distribution of the "Potter Stinks" badges and kept pointing out to him just how many people were wearing them. Harry overheard some upper class Slytherins laughing about how Ron Weasley had gone up to Malfoy with the idea. It sounded like something Ron would do and he proudly wore one and went out of his way to let Harry know it.

Hermione wasn't wearing one – yet. But with the exception of Neville and some of the girls everybody else in Gryffindor was. Colin Creevey hadn't been wearing one, but he kept looking at Harry with a face showing utter betrayal for a few weeks and just before the first task, he finally put one on.

Neville didn't say much to Harry, but he sat next to him in class when no one else would. They partnered in potions much to the amusement of the Slytherins and it was gleefully noted by Snape that "Potter must be planning on committing suicide before the first task being forced to sit with Longbottom." He then instructed the Slytherins to cast shields because explosions were eminent.

Nothing happened in that class nor did anything bad happen in the next. Harry had finally had enough and had started to fight back. He took Neville aside and asked if he would like to pass potions. "Of course, I do, but…well Snape scares me, he makes me nervous and you know, he doesn't teach and then the Slytherins throw things in our cauldrons and…."

"Yes I know, but I am not going to take it anymore and neither should you." Harry took Neville to a deserted classroom where Harry "kept his stash" of things. There were several books explaining how to make potions. Harry then pulled out some vegetables, whole spices and assorted seeds which he had acquired from the kitchen and proceeded to demonstrate to Neville the difference between mincing, dicing, cutting, crushing, slicing – all the things which Snape should have taught them in first year.

Harry gave Neville the books and told him, "These are some of the books which Snape has his Slytherins read before they have their first potion class. He gives special lessons and extra tutoring to those who need it. There is also a shield charm that prevents 'extra ingredients' from being added. It is very subtle unless you are really looking for it, you won't see it."

"How do you know this Harry?"

"I started watching the Slytherins. Just before they start brewing they cast a spell. I tried it once and found out what it does. I will teach it to you so you will know how to do it if I am not in class, but I will do the casting and we will always use it. I practiced it until I can do it silently and - swear you won't tell anybody, but I practiced it until I can do it wandlessly."

"Now Snape will still harass us, 'accidentally' drop our work – which is why I bought non-breakable vials, because I just found out by accident that such a thing exists – and so we will always fill at least two vials with our work just in case. It probably won't help but I want to document it. Also when we take our OWLS Snape isn't the one who tests us so he can't hurt us. Passing our OWLS, especially with a really good grade would be the best revenge and since the OWLS are cheat-proof he can't accuse us of doing so."

Neville was impressed and first thanked Harry and then asked him how he found out about these things.

"I've always had to be aware of my surroundings to survive. I won't tell you anything else so don't ask, but I constantly observe. I might not act on things because it wouldn't do to alert some people just how observant I am. However, because of this tournament, I have no choice but to do the best of my ability. I'm studying more and get to pay attention in class because Ron isn't bugging me to goof off and clown around. I am doing extra private study for the tournament which isn't on the school syllabus and buying books which are not to be found in the library. I'll help you with your classes if you keep my secrets. Right now you are the only person I trust."

A deal was made and Harry knew Neville would be a much better friend than Ron ever would be. So that Neville would not get in trouble by being seen to hanging around with Harry, they shared Harry's invisibility cloak to sneak around the school.

They managed to acquire another friend as one night when sneaking back to the common room they came across a girl wearing Ravenclaw robes lying in a little used corridor. It was clear to see she had been hexed around a bit as her clothes were messed up, her hair had been spelled to stick out in all directions and had some slime rubbed in and there was a "Potter Stinks" button spelled onto her forehead.

They took her to the infirmary. Her name was Luna Lovegood but people called her Looney. She tried to pretend nothing was wrong but Madame Pomfrey forced her to tell what happened. She was one of the few people who wouldn't wear the "Potter Stinks" button because she believed Harry Potter when he said he didn't put his name in the goblet.

"Well Ravenclaw does," she had been told by some of her older housemates. She still refused and tonight she had been caught away from her House in a corridor which didn't have any portraits so some of the older girls had "taught her a lesson about House solidarity" then glued the button on her forehead and left her in the hall.

Madame Pomfrey insisted she tell her the girls' names so she could report them to Flitwick for punishment. Luna refused as "Professor Flitwick has better things to do and the girls never listen to him about other things so he won't be able to do anything without getting in trouble. I don't want Professor Flitwick to feel bad because he can't do anything about this."

Unfortunately Madame Pomfrey agreed with the girl. Once Luna had been given a calming draught and a sleeping draft, Harry took her aside. He had always liked Madame Pomfrey as she always patched him up after his "adventures" and she had tried to help him with other problems. However, Dumbledore informed her there was nothing wrong with Harry and refused to give her the permission she required to have him sent to St. Mungo's for certain physicals which she knew he needed. Her hands were tied, but at least she _**had tried**_ which was more than the likes of McGonagall did.

Harry was going to do something and Neville volunteered to help him. Both boys knew what it was like to be bullied and abandoned and every damsel in distress needed a knight or two.

It took a while but with the help of Dobby the house elf, certain Ravenclaw girls were administered a potion in their food. The potion, one which Harry had found in one of his mail order books, caused the girls some discomfort - some very embarrassing discomfort. It seems they developed an itch in an extremely noticeable place on their anatomy, which they just had to itch, usually in public. A lot of people were greatly amused, especially the Weasley Twins who, naturally, were immediately blamed by Professor McGonagall and given detention.

Luna now actually had two friends. She once had a friend – Ginny Weasley – but since they came to Hogwarts, they had drifted apart because they were in different houses and Ginny had had "a problem" in her first year. However, she had been saved by Harry Potter and her main goal in life was to someday become his girlfriend and then eventually his wife. Her mother had promised it would happen.

But now Luna had Harry and Neville. It had been Luna who had told Harry about the dragons and she had mentioned that dragons might be able to speak parsel tongue. So one night, Harry had donned his invisibility cloak, hopped on his broom and flew to the dragon pen. He went as close as possible before attempting to talk with one of the dragons. Sure enough one of the dragons talked back to the human who "could speak" but who she could not see and then he tried talking to the others. Harry flew away to make plans.

Three days before the first task Harry was accosted by Hermione Granger. His former friend had spent the past few weeks giving Harry dirty looks. He had heard her whispering with her roommates Lavender and Parvati when Harry could not help but notice. He knew they were whispering about him since they were giving him "looks" and they knew he knew it was he they were talking about. They whispered loud enough to get his attention but soft enough so he could not hear. He ignored them as he had better things to do and knew it would annoy Hermione.

Hermione had been waiting outside of the boys' loo as after Harry left charms class he had headed in that direction. Well at least she hadn't followed him in. He exited the loo and there she was, standing in front of him with a determined look on her face. Since she was blocking his way, he could only wait for the rant to begin.

"Harry James Potter," she began, "You have just three days before the first task. If you will admit you lied and cheated and put your name in the goblet, then apologize to me, Ron and Gryffindor House, I will help you. I even know what the first task is and, of course, I know you still haven't a clue. I have already done some research – since I know what the task is and you don't," she mentioned again, "and if you are to have any chance at all, you need my help. Therefore, tonight after dinner, you will come back to the common room with me and admit your wrong doing and apologize to all."

She said this in her usual bossy, know-it-all tone of voice. She even wore her smuggest expression, the one she always wore when _she thought_ she was proven right beyond any shadow of doubt. She stood there waiting for him to thank her, possibly do a little groveling before gratefully acquiescing to her demands.

Instead Harry Potter just stood there looking at her as if she, Hermione Granger, was not offering to save his life but was speaking in Mandarin. If she didn't know better she would almost think he was actually looking at her like she was a bug on the wall or a tree or something other than his one and only chance at living. She was getting annoyed.

Harry Potter didn't say anything, he merely looked her in the eye and gave her the finger, then roughly pushed her out of his way (since she had no intention of moving) and walked down the hall. For once in her life she was shocked speechless. There was no way he had just done what she thought he did. 

After a few seconds she realized that yes, yes he had just done what she thought he had. She huffed out her indignation before hurrying after him to give him a piece of her mind. However, he had either moved very fast or put on his invisibility cloak as he was nowhere to be seen.

Harry wasn't seen for the next three days. He did show up for the first task and he picked the Hungarian Horntail in the draw. Of course he did get the worst possible dragon and the one out of the four who had refused to speak with him.

When Harry found out about dragons he had tried to tell Cedric Diggory as he figured the boy didn't know. He tried to talk to him alone but Diggory was always surrounded by his adoring fans and would simply tell Harry to "bugger off you little cheat" and then laugh at him. Harry eventually used a school owl to send a letter telling Diggory, "The first task is dragons you pompous ass and I DIDN'T PUT MY NAME IN THE GOBLET."

Fortunately Diggory had believed the letter and was prepared. Diggory had only glared at Harry when they assembled in the tent but then why should anybody thank Harry for anything.

Harry had Luna wearing his invisibility cloak hiding behind the tent holding his broom so that he could summon it quickly. Then he hit the dragon with a water charm and a quick freezing charm, concentrating mainly in the area of her mouth so at least she couldn't breathe fire at him. He then used a hex to knock her over exposing the nest and he quickly flew low, grabbed the golden egg and sped off before she could unfreeze herself.

Although he had completed the task faster and more efficiently than the other three Champions he was given poor marks. He came in fourth. After being cleared by Madam Pomfrey, he didn't wait to hear his score as he didn't care. Instead he exited the tent and retrieving his cloak from Luna he donned it and sped off on his broom.

He had already made the decision to move out of his House after the first task no matter what the outcome. His trunk had been rifled through continuously for the past few weeks. Since he always kept his cloak and the Marauder's map on his person at all times he only kept his clothes and photo album in the trunk.

He had already taken to hiding his broom because that had gone missing about a week after his name came out of the goblet. Dobby had managed to "find it" in Ginny Weasley's dorm room. He didn't think she took it but was only hiding it for Ron who probably had.

But yesterday his money bag was gone as well as the photo album. He had locked his trunk with a parsel tongue charm but the lid had been blown off. Someone other than Ron had to have done that bit of magic so it must have been the Twins or a seventh year. Maybe it had even been Hermione. Dobby was looking for his photo album.

The next day Neville found Harry and told him there had been a big celebration in Gryffindor House. It seemed everyone had been impressed with his performance and there was even talk about him "being forgiven" by his House. Apparently the Weasley Twins had won a great deal of money betting on him and were now looking to find Harry to "talk" about things.

"Hermione was quite surprised you survived without her help and if I didn't know any better," Neville mused, "I would say she was actually impressed. Lavender and Parvati were and so were Ginny Weasley and some other girls. Don't be surprised if a lot of people, at least from Gryffindor, seek you out to congratulate you and maybe even apologize."

"They can seek all they want to but I don't want anything to do with them. And do you really think anybody would actually apologize to me? They might say 'I knew you could do it' or 'congratulations' even, but apologize?"

Neville had to agree that Harry was probably right. That was how Gryffindors always acted.

True to his word Harry wasn't seen the rest of the weekend. After his trunk had been blown apart, he had Dobby drop it off at McGonagall's office with a note attached telling her what had happened and asking what did she intended to do about it. He already knew she probably wouldn't do a damn thing but he still wanted her to know what had happened.

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writing.

Chapter 2 – Fact-finding

The only good thing about the tournament was when Harry had sent Dobby to Gringotts to get some money from his trust vault a few days after his name had come out, the Goblins had told Dobby they had been trying to contact Harry for some time but their letters went unanswered. Therefore Dobby had snuck Harry out of Hogwarts to Gringotts late one night for an appointment.

This was how Harry found out he had been emancipated by his entrance in the tournament. He also found out a lot of other things besides, namely:

In the early hours of November 1, 1981 just hours after Harry had defeated Voldemort and his parents had been killed, Albus Dumbledore went to Gringotts and had the Potters' Will sealed. He had first read the Will, then resealed it after informing the Goblins he had been appointed as magical guardian for Harry. The Goblins called him a liar as they knew he was not, so using his power as Chief of the Wizengamot, he publically sealed the Will until such time as Harry turned 25 years old. Usually this would not have been legal, but he claimed an obscure law concerning orphans in war time or some other such nonsense and it was done by the Wizengamot. But sealing it until he was 25 years old was never, ever done but Dumbledore had done it anyway.

Of course, by sealing the Will it could not be probated so other than Harry having access to his trust vault, none of the other Potter vaults could be accessed. However that was a moot point as the Goblins already knew and now informed Harry that with the exception of James Potter's personal vault, all other Potter vaults had been put on locked down until Harry came of age and personally came in and claimed his inheritance. The heir's test would be taken and if Harry proved worthy as per the conditions of the House of Potter Laws of Inheritance, Harry would become Lord Potter and inherit all the Potter wealth, properties, heirlooms, titles and responsibilities upon taking the requisite magical oath.

Dumbledore had been appointed as Harry's magical guardian, as since Harry's only remaining blood relatives were Muggles (namely Petunia and Dudley), as Headmaster of Hogwarts Dumbledore could act as guardian for Harry on the same basis as he did for Muggleborn students such as Hermione or the Creevey Brothers.

As a point of interest, usually once Muggleborns went to Hogwarts and were sorted their Head of House became their magical guardian. For some unexplained reason, McGonagall, as Head of Gryffindor, was not the guardian for Harry or Hermione Granger as Dumbledore had taken over the guardianship for those two students. McGonagall was still the guardian for the Creeveys and the other Muggleborns in Gryffindor.

Dumbledore, as self-appointed guardian, had some limited access to Harry's trust vault. Since Harry was orphaned, the sum of G12,000 per year was deposited into Harry's vault on July 31st of each year starting in 1982. This was automatically deposited as per the Will of Harry's grandfather and was supposed to be used for Harry's upkeep and care.

On August 1st starting in 1982, the G12,000 deposit was removed by Dumbledore for Harry's upkeep and care. It was supposed to be sent by Dumbledore then onto Harry's Muggle relatives and only Dumbledore could know who and where they were to protect Harry Potter, thus his withdrawal of the money and the responsibility of forwarding it was his duty.

No later than Harry's 11th birthday, Dumbledore was supposed to meet with Harry and inform him of his financial situation and to begin to start explaining and training him in all the duties and responsibilities of his station or appoint another to undertake this duty. All financial statements, inheritances, endorsements fees, etc. as well as all other mail was to be forwarded directly to Albus Dumbledore until such time as Harry came to Hogwarts and/or another legal representative was appointed until Harry became of age.

According to the Will of Charlus Potter, Harry's grandfather, no marriage contracts could be made on behalf of Harry James Potter. No Last Will and Testament could be made by or on behalf of Harry James Potter, until Harry James Potter _became of age and personally came into Gringotts with his family solicitors_ , was checked for spells, charms, hexes, etc., and then in the presence of the Goblin Legal Department and the Potter Family solicitors then and only then could Harry James Potter make out his Will and sign it with a blood quill.

None of these things had been done, Harry had told the Goblins. The Goblins said they knew none of these things had been done and had been trying since his eleventh birthday to reach him but had been told by Dumbledore that "Harry is content for me to be handling his affairs and does not wish to be bothered with any of his financial concerns until such time as he graduates from Hogwarts. He also does not wish to receive any mail from law firms, fans or business organizations and all should be forwarded directly to me for perusal and approval."

"I never said that," Harry had told them, "In fact, I never knew about any of this."

Ripclaw, _the Goblin who used to handle_ the Potter estate until Dumbledore had relieved him of that duty and appointed his own outside financial firm to handle Harry's affairs, had smiled as only a Goblin can smile, especially when a Goblin is about to rat out and get a wizard in trouble.

"Then you will really be interested to note, Harry Potter, that in order for you to be able to participate in this tournament which _**we Goblins know you did not put your name in the goblet to participate**_ , you had to legally be emancipated and have been eligible since October 31st of this year to claim your inheritance and assume your lordship. Has not anyone informed you of this?"

"No."

"How strange, considering it had to be filed as a matter of law with the Ministry of Magic as well as being approved by the Minister of Magic, Albus Dumbledore and assorted other dignitaries involved in the tournament, such as the Heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. _It has been legally filed and made a matter of record and cannot be challenged especially once you claim your lordship and put on the lord's ring._ It was also _**required by law**_ to be announced in the _Daily Prophet_ and all other registered news sources in Magical Britain, but for some strange reason, it was not."

Fifteen minutes after several charms, spells and curses were removed from him as well as having certain potions (illegally given) flushed out of his system, Harry James Potter, swore a certain magical oath, put on the lordship ring and claimed all his inheritances. However, he did ask Ripclaw not to inform a certain Headmaster/Chief of the Wizengamot of this night's actions. Instead that individual was to receive only the financial statements he had been receiving. Ripclaw was reinstated as his Gringotts accounts manager and had been ordered to get in touch with the prior law firm used by the Potters.

After this was done Ripclaw let it slip that only the day before Albus Dumbledore had showed up with a Will which had been made out and signed by Harry with a blood quill. "Naturally this Will was illegal," Ripclaw told him, "as it did not meet with the criteria required by Lord Charlus Potter. It had, however, been signed with a quill with your blood but not signed with a blood quill."

Since Harry did not make out a Will, knew what a blood quill was let alone sign anything with his blood – at least that he knew of – he was immediately checked out by a team of Goblins consisting of a healer, a curse breaker and assorted other experts to check to see that nothing had been missed. Since it was late and Harry did need to get some sleep another appointment had been made.

Two nights later Dobby again snuck Harry back to Gringotts for the results. Apparently some of Harry's blood had been acquired and used to sign the fake Will. Harry always lost blood due to this and that, and it was a simple matter for someone to acquire some of his blood from a wound, place it in stasis and then use it for any nefarious purpose they wanted to. It would take an expert, such as one of the Goblins, to detect the wrongdoing, but detect it they had.

Out of curiosity Harry asked to see the fake Will. It left everything to certain individuals. One-fourth of his entire estate was left to Albus Dumbledore for use in running the Order of the Phoenix – whatever that was – one-half of his estate was left to Hogwarts c/o Albus Dumbledore, and the last one-fourth of his estate was left to his _betrothed,_ Ginerva Molly Weasley c/o of Molly Prewett Weasley. His entire trust vault was left to his "best mate and most loyal friend" Ronald Bilius Weasley. Ron also got his Firebolt and Dumbledore received Harry's invisibility cloak and all books in the Potter Family library. Any and all Potter heirlooms were bequeathed to Hogwarts.

That Will was legally declared null, void and extremely illegal and Harry would definitely be drafting a new Will to be legally drawn up and signed at a later date.

Harry had a lot of health problems caused by his years living with the Dursleys. They could be corrected with a regimen of nutrient potions and corrective healing. The Goblin healer had recommended that most of the bones in his body be banished and regrown as he had used his magic to fix his injuries but some of them just didn't heal properly. This would have to be done over a period of time, consisting of coming to Gringotts, having certain bones banished, given skel-grow and taken back to Hogwarts for the night to heal.

Harry had been fitted with new glasses. He had never had the correct prescription and while one could put the blame on the Dursleys, Madam Pomfrey should have been examining Harry for the past four years as it was her duty to monitor any student with a known medical condition. Wearing glasses was considered a medical condition and she had examined James Potter during his school time.

Harry could have his eyes fixed but not until he was a bit older and definitely not until he finished his healing process. At least with the new prescription he could see much better and his eyesight would stop deteriorating as badly as it had been. He had to keep the old glasses because apparently there were tracking spells on them and if he got new frames it would tip off Dumbledore and he'd find out all of Harry's discoveries. Then, as Harry well knew, he would probably be obliviated or worse.

Dobby had bonded with Harry during his third year but was to say nothing to anyone about it. As far as Dumbledore knew Dobby was still working at Hogwarts but doing certain errands for Harry. Since he had already bonded with Harry Dobby could truly swear to Dumbledore that he would not bond with Harry in the future. 

Due to the advice of Ripclaw, Harry was to get another elf to "help out" not because Dobby wasn't capable of doing everything which Harry needed done but in case Dobby was being monitored by the other elves due to Dumbledore's orders. Thus, Seely was acquired for Harry.

Seely was a young elf who would be Harry's "secret weapon" while Dobby acted as a decoy. No one would notice another elf around Hogwarts and as long as he stayed out of the way of the other elves he could serve Harry as well as acquiring Harry books to help him, picking up his potions, sneaking him to Gringotts for appointments and doing general spying.

Another good thing about being a lord and wearing the lordship ring was that Harry would be alerted if someone slipped him a potion or tried to cast a charm on him. The Goblins had found a few charms on Harry such as compulsion charms, powerful loyalty charms directed towards Dumbledore and some minors ones directed to Ron and Mrs. Weasley. There were some hexes causing him to lose his temper, not being able to concentrate and to be lazy. All of these had been removed so that the Lordship Ring would accept him as Lord Potter.

In the Potter heirloom vault the Goblins had found an amulet in the shape of a ring which would alert Harry if he was being hexed, charmed or legitimized. Harry didn't know what Legilimency was but once it was explained to him and the symptoms given, he realized that was what Quirrell/Voldemort had been doing to him first year and why he felt the slight tickling sensation in his head whenever he looked Dumbledore in the eye.

He had a pretty good idea that Snape was also doing it to him. The amulet would alert him and enable him to fight it off enough to leave the situation. Like the lordship ring it would remain invisible until Harry wanted it shown.

There were trackers on the invisibility cloak, his Firebolt, his photo album, his broom and especially his old glasses. Arrangements could be made for Seely to sneak the cloak, broom and album off to the Goblins to have the trackers removed, but the Goblins warned Harry it would be a moot point unless Harry found out where the main tracking devices were so they could be disabled first and then trackers removed. If they were removed before the main devices were found it would only alert Dumbledore.

The most disturbing thing was the spells on his wand. Of course there was the Ministry tracking charm which was required by law on all underage wand users. However, Harry's wand had another tracking charm on it probably placed by Dumbledore. There was also another spell on the wand which had even the best Goblin curse breakers baffled. It was suggested Harry acquire another wand to use.

There was a wand maker in Knockturn Alley who asked no questions and would make custom made wands without any Ministry trackers on. He could also charm a wand to look different than what it was. For example, say Harry's new wand was made out of birch or yew, usually a white color, and say his wand was shorter or longer than Harry's 11" holly wand. The new wand could be charmed to look exactly like Harry's old wand.

This gave Harry a great idea. Neville was using his father's old wand due to his grandmother insisting it was a way to honor Neville's father. The wand just wasn't working for Neville but his Grandmother insisted it wasn't the wand's fault but Neville's. "It worked just fine for your father so it must be something you are doing wrong" she kept telling him.

Professor Flitwick had personally gone to see Augusta Longbottom as had Ollivander but the damn stubborn woman just wouldn't listen and kept blaming Neville. So after asking Neville, Harry made an appointment for both of them to be snuck out and taken to the wand maker in Knockturn Alley.

"I don't know how you are able to do anything with this wand," the wand maker told Neville. "It is all wrong for you. The fact that you can do any magic at all with it must prove just what a powerful wizard you must be."

That had made Neville's day. He could have died a happy wizard if this was his last day on earth. Both Harry's and Neville's new wands had cores which Ollivander didn't use. The Knockturn wand maker charmed the boys' new wands to look like their old ones and sold them wand hostlers for both wands as "You should carry both wands when you want to do some 'mischief' or think you might be getting checked."

Ollivander only used Phoenix feather, dragon heart string and unicorn hair as core centers due to a law passed by the Ministry. Any wand sold without those three cores had been made before the law had been passed so although he was allowed to sell the wand he was not allowed to make any new ones using any other cores but the three specified. He also had to report the name of the witch or wizard he sold the wand to as well as the wand core.

If Ollivander didn't have a wand to match a wizard or witch, he was not allowed to make a custom wand unless he first reported it to the Ministry and got its permission. Again he had to report the name. The Ministry liked to keep track of things like this.

Apparently it had been Dumbledore's suggestion to prevent "dark wizards from acquiring wands." Dumbledore had his own ideas what cores should be considered dark. What was strange about this idea was the fact that Dumbledore never had any training in wand making and thus was not in the least qualified to determine the darkness or lightness of a wand or a young unknown wizard or witch. But you see somehow, no doubt being the leader of the Light, Dumbledore "just knew by looking at a child" if he or she would turn out to be dark or light.

How convenient.

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writing.

Chapter 3 – Moving

Seely had been sent out to buy a new trunk, school uniforms, some decent clothing and other accessories since his belongings were basically destroyed when the lid was blown off. His photo album had been secured on the bottom and since it was missing it was probably not destroyed just taken. He didn't care about the money pouch as it only contained a few galleons and some knuts but it was the principle of the thing.

He skipped breakfast in the Great Hall on Monday morning but had gone to McGonagall's private quarters before she left for breakfast. She opened her door to find Harry Potter patiently waiting outside. She was stunned for a moment before gaining control and saying, "Mr. Potter where have you been all weekend?"

"Moving out of Gryffindor House, since not only is it a house of petty, bigoted, back stabbing gits, it also is full of thieves who when I finally found a locking charm the thief couldn't break, that bastard blew it off ruining my…."

"Language Mr. Potter," she snapped back at him. "I gather the trunk I found in my quarters is your trunk."

"I did leave you a note, or did you just ignore it like you do with anything involving my health, well-being, physical and emotional pain? So what do you intend to do about the thefts and my destroyed trunk?"

She paused to think up an excuse for a moment before saying, "The Headmaster has been looking for you since the first task when you rudely ran off even before hearing your score. Your inconsideration has caused a great deal of grief for the Headmaster, myself and your housemates, who wanted to congratulate you."

"You mean the same bastards who have been calling me a liar, a cheat, sabotaging me, stealing my stuff and now blowing up my trunk for the past couple weeks?"

"Language Mr. Potter. Although you may have had some trouble with your housemates due to your bringing shame to your house, since you did survive the first task and they just may find it in their hearts to forgive you for…."

"Expelliarmus" Harry shouted catching the witch's wand in his hand. He then proceeded to shove the point of her own wand in the hollow of her neck and began spitting out his frustrations. McGonagall was so outraged she wasn't even listening to him. She knew that a prefect or a student would soon be coming near enough to hear and witness what was going on and would rescue her and then she would drag Potter to the Headmaster's office for Albus to discipline the unruly boy.

But Harry saw her eyes shifting toward the hall, noticed she wasn't listening at all so he then slammed her hard against the wall. There was a nasty gleam in the boy's eyes as he informed her that he had already placed a notice-me-not spell and a silencing charm in the area before she came out, "So there won't be any rescue, so FOR ONCE LISTEN TO ME!"

She had no choice but to obey him. She had never seen a student glare at her with such coldness, such actual hatred - well only Severus Snape after she had duly punished him for attacking the Marauders after they had played one of their harmless pranks on him.

The nasty Slytherin boy deserved it – always trying to get the wonderful fun-loving Gryffindor boys in trouble, making up horrible lies about them, ambushing them in the halls and even using dark arts on them. Poor dear James Potter had confessed to her once that Snape had some of his fellow Slytherins injure him so they could blame the Marauders for hurting Snape. She had been after Albus to expel Snape for years but he had been too merciful.

Snape had been a bad, vicious boy giving her the evil eye when she gave him a well-deserved punishment but now Harry, James' own son, was looking at her worse than Snape ever had. And the things he was saying to her!

Well she did have to admit everything he was saying was true. Her Gryffindors had treated him very badly because they truly believed he had managed to cheat and put his name in the goblet and then lied about entering. _Gryffindor was the house of the brave and_ _ **noble**_ so having a cheater and a liar in their house was not to be tolerated. Therefore Harry deserved everything he got from his House **if they thought he lied and cheated**.

The entire school believed the same as had the students and Heads from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, the Ministry officials and the press.

She and all the other staff members knew this wasn't the truth as Albus, backed up by Alastor Moody deduced it was a plot against Potter and probably had something to do with Death Eaters and the possible return of the Dark Lord. However, the boy had no choice but to participate in the tournament or else lose his magic. Albus had sworn the staff to secrecy so as not to scare them or alert the public to what was probably really happening.

"The Ministry would never believe it and only say I was trying to cause a panic so this must not get out. Unfortunately, since we can't reveal the probable truth, we must let the public and the schools believe Harry did manage to find a way around the rules and submitted his name for the fame and glory of participating in the tournament."

Both she and Flitwick had started to protest immediately but were shouted down by Dumbledore who just kept saying it was unfortunate but it had to be done this way _and no doubt it would be a character-building lesson for Harry and he will find out who his real friends are_. They had their orders and Albus would be obeyed.

It had hurt her to be so cruel and indifferent to Harry but, _according to Albus, it had to be done_. She did her best not to show how upset she was now as the boy reiterated all of the things which had been done to him especially by the Gryffindors. She had been very ashamed when Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger had abandoned him.

Granger hadn't wanted to at first but Ron had convinced her and, she had heard from Miss Barlow the 7th year Prefect, that Ron Weasley had told Granger if she sided with Harry "You won't have any friends in Gryffindor and you remember how that was before I talked Harry into being your friend." That, of course, had been a lie as it had been Harry Potter befriending the awkward girl while Ron Weasley had bitterly objected. Sometimes Ron Weasley could be crueler than a Slytherin!

"So I ask you Professor, what are you going to do about my trunk and the robberies?"

Fighting to keep her composure and the upper hand in the situation she said, "We will go see the Headmaster and…."

"NO! You are my Head of House and it is YOUR DUTY TO TAKE CARE OF THIS."

She stayed silent. Again he was correct but Albus told her all things concerning Potter were to be decided by him.

Frustrated as usual, Harry snapped. "You know you are worse than Snape. Severus Snape who actually hates me because of his feud with my father and the other Marauders and makes no bones about it, yes even Severus Snape despite all his immature, unfair, unreasonable hatred is better to me than you."

McGonagall looked at Harry and thought she saw the beginnings of tears in his eyes but he quickly recovered to snarl coldly, "I hate you. I really, really, truly hate you. You aren't going to do a damn thing except drag me to Dumbledore who will offer me a lemon drop, give me either an extra strong eye twinkle like nothing is wrong or I'll get the "I am very disappointed in you Harry" look because he is putting me through some asinine 'test' and will then do his very best to make me feel guilty about said 'test' and I'll just end up like I usually do – SCREWED."

His glare got harsher and his voice colder. "If, at the end of the year I manage to survive whatever is 'in store for me' and will, as always, end up in the infirmary, given only an eye twinkle after an interrogation, maybe the usual pat on the head, no help and then sent back to be abused, starved, overworked and beaten by my relatives. YES I SAID ABUSED, STARVED, OVERWORKED AND BEATEN. I KNOW YOU ALL KNOW ABOUT IT BUT YOU STILL LET IT HAPPEN."

She said nothing just stared. He stopped saying anything. Suddenly he turned quickly and walked away.

"Mr. Potter."

He turned back to look at her.

"You still have my wand AND WE WILL BE GOING TO THE HEADMASTER'S OFFICE IMMEDIATELY."

He looked at her sadly. He then snapped her wand in two and threw it at her. "NO WE WILL NOT BE GOING TO THE HEADMASTER'S OFFICE." He then turned and walked off.

He was walking quickly down the hallway on his way to the kitchen to have his usual breakfast with the house elves. He was debating whether he would show up for his classes today once he sent Seely off on his errand. He smiled slightly remembering that he had Transfiguration today and wondering if McGonagall owned an extra wand.

Oh he was in so much trouble but he oh so didn't care. He would be in even more trouble when tomorrow's edition of the _Quibbler_ came out. He and Luna had spent yesterday writing an article for her daddy's newspaper telling Harry's side of the story concerning the tournament. The article only needed was one last paragraph to be added, namely his confrontation with McGonagall. It the article proved to be well-received then Harry would consider writing up the true story of his first three years of Hogwarts.

Harry was so lost in his musings that he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings until there was Hermione Granger standing right in front of him. She stared at him probably deciding what to yell at him first. She was biting her lower lip slightly, a sure sign she was thinking and was about to talk.

"Harry," she said crisply, "I just wanted to…congratulate you on surviving the first task and to ask you, well to ask you – WHO HELPED YOU?"

Harry was wondering how long it would take her to spit that out but since he had been taken unaware he didn't have the chance to time it.

She tried to calm down after her outburst as no doubt she was attempting to be tactful (HA!). "What I mean to say, Harry," she said, "well no one was speaking to you except Neville and well Neville is…Neville. And you are…you – so you just had to have help. You couldn't have possibly done it on your own."

Harry just stood there since she was blocking his path wondering if the next thing she would say was what he thought she would be saying. He was right, it was.

"Harry, please, please tell me a teacher wasn't helping you cheat," she asked sincerely, "I could manage to forgive you for cheating your way into the tournament but if a teacher was helping you cheat – well I just couldn't forgive you."

"I didn't cheat or put my name in the goblet and NO a teacher wasn't helping me so yet again I WASN'T CHEATING."

She snorted at that response. "It was Professor Moody, wasn't it? The Weasley Twins are taking bets – which I definitely do not approve of – but the highest odds are that Professor Moody is helping you because he does seem to talk to you a lot after class and someone of his experience would know how to.…"

Harry just looked at her, sighed a bit, whipped out his wand, pointed it at Hermione and yelled "Incendio" setting Hermione's book bag on fire.

A very loud, piercing shriek echoed down the hall, which was probably heard up in Trelawney's tower. Harry hurried down the hall casting a quick shield charm around his body and then a disillusionment charm to make good his escape.

Once she recovered from shock no doubt Hermione would spell out the fire but she was fast and would probably lash out at Harry without stopping to think for once. Who know how many books Hermione carried in her bottomless lightweight book bag, not to mention her notes, her supplies, her day planner, an extra pair of knickers and whatever else she might be lugging around?

As Harry made his getaway, he paused to think if this was how Death Eaters decided to sign up with Voldie. There was something deliciously horrid and satisfying about hearing Hermione scream as well as punishing her for pissing him off.

Then he started to imagine what other people's screams would sound like – such as McGonagall, Ron, Ginny, the Twins (he already knew how Mrs. Weasley's screams sounded as all she seemed to do was shout and scream at people instead of speaking in a normal voice), Malfoy, Snape, Dumbledore, Rita Skeeter, Petunia, Vernon, Dudley, Marge….

Then he snapped himself out of it and hurried off to his new quarters as now he had another paragraph to draft regarding Hermione's attack. He'd have to have Seely sneak him breakfast because he would be too busy to go to the kitchens before - oh wait, his first class was Transfiguration and he definitely wouldn't be going to that class and maybe nobody else would either. Hee, hee, hee.


End file.
